Stares
by Bookworms will rule the world
Summary: Captain Peter Pevensie is a gentleman. So when he knocks over a fair maiden, he treats her to coffee. Peter/OC. One-shot. Modern AU. Written in eponnia's AU world. DON'T READ GO READ EPONNIA'S AMAZING STORIES INSTEAD.


**Disclaimer: The fantastic world of Narnia and its characters belong to C.S. Lewis. The awesome modern AU world belongs to eponnia.**

Captain Peter Pevensie hated feeling as though he was not adept. He was a grown man for heavens sake, he could do about life on his own!

No, but when anyone saw the blasted metal arm, they saw him as a handicapped man, as incapable.

That's why he liked roaming the crowded streets of London. Everyone was so busy with their own lives that no o ne looked at him twice.

At least while on the streets, he was normal.

He could handle it. He was a soldier. He could keep his cool in a firefight. Stares were nothing.

* * *

As he checked the time, he got a shock.

He was supposed to meet his sisters in an hour at home, and Susan tended to get angry if he was late.

Rushing past the shops of downtown, Peter ran to where his car was parked. He needed to get back, and their home was quite some ways away. His sister Susan had just come back from a trip with her boyfriend, and he needed to be there to catch up as a family.

He couldn't miss that. (Especially the grilling Edmund and him were going to give Caspian.)

He dodged through crowds of people, something he found was a very useful skill in London.

Suddenly, a girl showed up in his path, and he assumed he'd slip past her.

He didn't know how, but suddenly, they were both on the ground on the sidewalk of a busy street.

And the girl did not look happy, as she muttered what Peter assumed to be profanities under her breath.

"Honestly!?" she cried. "You just had to hit me."

"As if my day wasn't bad enough." she added quietly.

Peter coughed. "Um…sorry."

"Jerk." she said, unabashedly.

He knew the dangers of making a girl angry.

Getting up, he extended his hand down to her in an attempt to be chivalrous.

She simple stared at it.

"What's wrong?" Peter asked, getting annoyed. "Are you just going to sit there or-"

He broke of, finally realizing why she was staring.

Out of habit, he had offered her his right arm, the robotic arm.

Flushing, he drew his hand back. He hated when that happened. Trying to cover it as best he could with his sleeve, he held out the other hand.

She gripped it, and he pulled her to her feet.

She looked at him in surprise.

"What?" he muttered, suddenly self-conscious as the pretty girl stared at him.

"I-nothing." she said finally. "You're just, very, erm, strong."

Peter almost laughed aloud.

Well, at least she was polite.

"Are you alright?" he asked, studying her.

She blushed under his scrutiny. "I…yes." she scrambled to compose herself. "N-no thanks to you."

"You're an interesting girl, Ms…" he trailed off, looking at her expectantly.

After a moment, she blushed. "Oh. It's Lynde. Tara Lynde."

Peter smiled. "Well then Ms. Lynde, care for a drink? On me, as compensation of sorts."

Tara Lynde smiled back at him, rolling her eyes. "Alright. I suppose I could sit for a bit."

She slipped into the coffee shop they had coincidentally fallen right in front of, Peter holding open the door.

Before following her, he sent a quick text to Susan, letting her know something had come up.

* * *

Peter sat in the coffee shop, studying the girl sitting across from him.

Sipping her coffee, she did the same to him.

Finally, she said, "You're a real gentleman."

Laughing softly, he said, "Ah, yes, we're a dying breed. Well, that comes through living with mostly girls."

Seeing he puzzled look, he elaborated, "I have two younger sisters."

With a smile, she said, "Well, your girlfriend or wife is lucky to have such a gentlemen, Mr…"

"Captain Peter Pevensie." he said. "And I don't have a girlfriend. Or a wife.

"Captain?" She squeaked. "I-oh…so you're…"

"Yes, military personnel. Well, ex-military personnel." he said.

"And they… I mean you…" she sounded extremely uncomfortable.

"I was released recently. Because of…" he trailed off. "Well, you know."

"Oh, well, I, um, I'm sorry…?" she said uncertainly.

Laughing bitterly, Peter said, "Yeah. I'm sorry too."

"N-no, I meant about the staring. I must have made you uncomfortable." she muttered.

"Wow. Didn't think you were the kind to apologize." he smirked.

She sniffed, pretending to be offended.

"But really, don't worry about it." he said trying to get he to calm down. "Now enough about me, can we talk about you?"

"Me?" She laughed. "I'm not very interesting."

"Didn't I already tell you that I find you interesting Ms. Lynde?" He studied her. "What do you do for a living?"

"It's Miss Lynde." she corrected. "I'm a journalist. The UK Times."

He raised an eyebrow. "Wow."

"Eh, it's not all its chalked up to be. It's rare that my stories even get into the first ten pages." she said, blushing.

"Still, it's quite something. I'll have to look for your name."

After a minute or so of silence, he gave up.

"Oh just ask the question." he said finally.

"W-what?" she said, taken aback.

"About the metal appendage." he said. "Everyone's always curious."

"Do you feel comfortable telling me?" she asked quietly.

"I haven't told anyone outside of the family yet."

She seemed to take it fine, but he could see she was disappointed.

"But," he continued, "there's something about you." he gave in.

And so he told her the story, the one of the bomb, the ditch, and those who lost so much more than he had.

She looked horrified. "That doesn't even sound like something that would really happen."

"War always sounds like a horror film." he said quietly.

Looking at her face, he knew there was something more there.

"What's wrong. I know there's more for you." he looked at her.

"It's-it's fine. It's just, my father was in the military. My mother refuses to tell me…how he passed." she said.

Now it was Peter's turn to look horrified.

"Oh, I didn't, I hope you didn't… I'm sorry." he said quietly.

"No, it's okay." she said quietly. "You aren't the first."

"Still."

She smiled at him. "You are a very kind man, Captain Pevensie."

"Call me Peter."

"Now." She said. "Shall we move on to other, less depressing topics?"

* * *

After a lot more banter, Peter checked his watch. "Oh god it's late."

He got up, giving her his hand to shake. His flesh hand this time.

"It was very nice meeting you Miss Lynde." he said. "However, I have to go, before my crazy sister physically hurts me for being late."

Miss Lynde looked at him. "Call me Tara. I hope to see you again soon, hopefully in one piece." she giggled.

"Bye." he said, taking his leave.

And on his way to Susan's home, he wondered why the world wasn't full of Tara Lynde's.

He also hoped he would forgive him for being so bold.

* * *

Looking down, Tara felt sad, as if Captain Peter Pevensie was an old friend or even family that she had said goodbye to.

As she stared at the table, she found something scrawled on the paper placemat.

'Miss Lynde,

Forgive me for being so bold.

Cell phone:

(546)-627-526

I quite enjoyed myself and I hope you did too.'

She smiled bright, nearly laughing aloud.

The break up this morning was bad. Captain Pevensie had compensated for mush more than he knew.

But there was something about him.

She hadn't realized knights in shining armor were meant to knock you down.

* * *

 **Hey! So I wrote a Narnia fic! (I don't care if you're disappointed in me Water.)**

 **This fanfic is written in the modern AU world created by eponnia. A few amazing Narnia fics are on my favorites list, go check them out. They are 10 times more amazing then mine. The titles are The Rain in Spain, Into the Woods, and Blessing, listed in chronological order. (This fic fits in between Into The Woods and Blessing.)**

 **So basically, I reread all 7 Narnia books after, like, 4 years, and after reading the less than satisfactory ending to The Last Battle, I fell into a depression mode. I drowned my sorrows in fanfiction. After reading eponnia's amazing fics, this was born.**

 **I might add another one-shot or two. Now go read eponnia's amazing fics.**

 **Oh, and please review!**


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